Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Interesting trans data via Williams Institute

In a press release Tuesday, Williams Institute announced that the transgender youth population (ages 13 to 17) is now estimated at 150,000 in the United States. This would indicate that they comprise 0.7% of that demographic. This is based on a study titled Age of Individuals Who Identify as Transgender in the United States, by Jody L. Herman, Ph.D., Andrew R. Flores, Ph.D., Taylor N. T. Brown, MPP, Bianca D.M. Wilson, Ph.D., and Kerith J. Conron, Sc.D.. The data come from several sources including the CDC and individual states. According to the report the highest proportion of transgender youth is in ages 15 to 17.

The CDC data is based upon self-identification. I am going to attempt to find out how accurate that might be. In some respects it could actually be more compelling than a count of those diagnosed with gender dysphoria which might require parental intervention.

For years I have written that the overall transgender population is about 0.3%. Recently that was revised upward to 0.6%. The potential problem of course is that religious conservatives might soon claim that transgenderism is contagious among children seeking attention. Nothing could be further from the truth. Researchers have separately determined that trans kids are neither confused nor pretending.
On a related note, over the weekend I asked the folks at WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) if they planned on filing an amicus brief in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G.. I am hoping that they do. The answer I received:

I don’t know at this time if WPATH will officially submit however, a WPATH member was the expert witness in the case that prevailed in the lower courts.